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the ungodly, which he clearly foretold. But he too, having spoken declaratively, that these things will certainly befall the ungodly, erred by not adding the distinction; for the retribution is not in every case here, but also in the age to come. 163 CHAPTER THIRTEEN Beginning of the saying: But Job, taking up the discourse, says: How long will you vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? Introduction to the chapter. The friends rebuke Job for being excessively bold, but he accuses them of being burdensome in their reproaches and says: this only I want you to know, that it is God who has brought these incurable plagues upon me, so that knowing this you may be afraid, lest he surround you with equal evils. And he finds fault with them for reviling him to his face; for let us grant, he says, that I do not speak fittingly, yet you, being friends, ought not to aggravate my calamities. Having said these things to his friends, he again recounts the terrible things that encompass him, persuading both himself and them that the punishments are beyond human sins and that such plagues are rather those of an enemy. For he who treated him thus was truly an enemy, even if he himself was ignorant of the reason for the permission. Then he exhorts them that, even if they are not ashamed as before a just man, they should at least have mercy on him as a friend. And he prays that his words might be handed down in writing, so that they might be transmitted to successive generations, which indeed has happened, and the just man did not fail in his prayer. And he finds fault with his friends for seeking how to wound him with words, and advises them to cease from their reproaches, being in awe of the judgment of God. 164 The words 19, 2 How long will you vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? The heaviness of the words, like a burden placed upon the soul, causes it to weary. And "break me in pieces with words" instead of: you strive with contradictions to overthrow my justifications. 19, 3 Know only that God has done this to me. so that you too may be afraid to trample thus upon one who is weary, lest he surround you with equal evils. 19, 3 You speak against me without being ashamed, you press upon me. It is a heavy thing, he says, even to speak against the absent; but you shamelessly revile me even to my face. 19, 4-5 Yea, in truth I have erred, and error lodges with me to speak words which I ought not; and my words err and are not in season. But be it so, that you magnify yourselves against me, and leap upon me with reproaches. Let us grant, he says, that in truth I err, and some deceiving spirit dwelling in me causes me not to speak as I ought, nor to utter my words in season; yet you ought not thus to exalt yourselves over me and show yourselves to be great and righteous against the unfortunate, and to leap upon me and jump upon me and trample me with insults. 165 19, 6 Know then that it is the Lord who has troubled me, and he has raised up his stronghold against me. "Who has troubled me" instead of: He who has placed my affairs in such confusion and has enclosed me on all sides with calamities as with a stronghold and a wall. Or also thus: He has raised up a kind of partition wall between me and himself, that he might say: He has withdrawn his own help from me. 19, 7 Behold, I laugh at reproach and will not speak; I will cry out, and there is no judgment. But it is better, I think, only to laugh at your reproaches and not to answer. For why should I cry out when the decision has not yet shown—for by 'judgment' he means the decision—whether I speak the truth or you who falsely accuse me in vain? 19, 8-11 I have been walled up round about, and I cannot pass. He has set darkness before my face. And he has stripped my glory from me, and has taken away the crown from my head. He has torn me down on every side, and I am gone; and he has cut down my hope like a tree. And he has used wrath terribly against me, and has counted me as an enemy. My evils, he says, are inescapable; and just as those who are hemmed in all around by a wall or who are hindered in their sight by blindness cannot proceed further, so I am at a loss to get out of my calamities. And he says that his crown has been taken away, either because he himself happened to be a king, or because .... and all his prosperity limb by limb, he says, has been dis

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ἀσεβεῖς, ἃ προεῖπεν δηλονότι. ἀποφαντικῶς δὲ καὶ οὗτος εἰρηκώς, ὅτι πάντως ταῦτα ἔσται τοῖς ἀσεβέσιν, ἥμαρτε μὴ προσθεὶς τὴν διαίρεσιν· οὐ γὰρ πάντως ἐνταῦθα ἡ ἀπόδοσις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι. 163 ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΤΡΕΙΣΚΑΙ∆ΕΚΑΤΟΝ Ἀρχὴ τοῦ ῥητοῦ· ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Ἰὼβ λέγει· ἕως τίνος ἔγκοπον ποιήσητε τὴν ψυχήν μου καὶ καθαιρεῖτε με λόγοις; Προθεωρία τοῦ κεφαλαίου. οἱ μὲν φίλοι τῷ Ἰὼβ ἐπιτιμῶσιν ὡς περιττὰ θρασυνομένῳ, ὁ δὲ ὡς βαρεῖς ὄντας ἐν τοῖς ὀνείδεσιν αἰτιᾶται καί φησιν ὅτι· τοῦτο μόνον ὑμᾶς γνῶναι θέλω, ὅτι θεός ἐστιν ὁ τὰς ἀνηκέστους μοι ταύτας πληγὰς ἐπαγαγών, ἵνα τοῦτο γνόντες φοβηθῆτε, μὴ τοῖς ἰσοστασίοις καὶ ὑμᾶς περιβάλῃ κακοῖς. μέμφεται δὲ ὡς κατὰ πρόσωπον αὐτὸν κακολογοῦντας· δῶμεν γάρ, φησίν, ὅτι μὴ καθηκόντως φθέγγομαι, ἀλλ' ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἔδει φίλους ὄντας ἐπιτρίβειν μοι τὰς συμφοράς. ταῦτα πρὸς τοὺς φίλους εἰρηκὼς πάλιν ἐκδιηγεῖται τὰ αὐτὸν συνέχοντα δεινὰ ἑαυτόν τε πείθων κἀκείνους ὡς ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτίας ἀνθρωπίνας αἱ τιμωρίαι καὶ ἐχθροῦ μᾶλλόν εἰσιν αἱ τοιαῦται πληγαί. ὄντως γὰρ ἐχθρὸς ἦν ὁ οὕτως αὐτῷ χρώμενος, εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν αἰτίαν ἠγνόει τῆς συγχωρήσεως. εἶτα παρακαλεῖ, ἵνα εἰ καὶ μὴ ὡς δίκαιον ἐπαισχύνονται, ἀλλ' ὡς φίλον ἐλεήσωσιν. καὶ ἐπεύχεται γραφῇ παραδοθῆναι αὑτοῦ τὰ ῥήματα, ἵνα διαδόσιμα καὶ ταῖς ἐφεξῆς γένωνται γενεαῖς, ὃ δὴ καὶ γέγονε, καὶ οὐκ ἀπέτυχέ γε τῆς εὐχῆς ὁ δίκαιος. καὶ μέμφεται τοῖς φίλοις ὡς ἀναζητοῦσιν, πῶς αὐτὸν τοῖς λόγοις πλήξωσιν, καὶ παραινεῖ παύσασθαι τῶν ὀνειδισμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ κρίμα διευλαβουμένους. 164 Αἱ λέξεισ 19, 2 ἕως τίνος ἔγκοπον ποιήσητε τὴν ψυχήν μου καὶ καθαιρεῖτέ με λόγοις; ἡ τῶν λόγων βαρύτης ὥσπερ τι φορτίον ἐπιτιθέμενον τῇ ψυχῇ κάμνειν αὐτὴν παρασκευάζει. τὸ δὲ καθαιρεῖτέ με λόγοις ἀντὶ τοῦ· καταβαλεῖν σπουδάζετε ταῖς ἀντιλογίαις τὰς ἐμὰς δικαιολογίας. 19, 3 γνῶτε μόνον, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἐποίησέ μοι οὕτως. ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς φοβηθῆτε οὕτω ἐπεμβαίνειν τῷ κάμνοντι, μὴ τοῖς ἴσοις ὑμᾶς περιβάλλῃ κακοῖς. 19, 3 καταλαλεῖτέ μου οὐκ αἰσχυνόμενοι, ἐπίκεισθέ μοι. βαρὺ μέν, φησίν, καὶ τὸ ἀπόντων καταλαλεῖν· ὑμεῖς δὲ ἀνερυθριάστως καὶ κατὰ πρόσωπον λοιδορεῖτέ με. 19, 45 ναὶ δή, ἐπ' ἀληθείας ἐγὼ πεπλάνημαι, παρ' ἐμοὶ δὲ αὐλίζεται πλάνος λαλῆσαι ῥήματα, ἃ οὐκ ἔδει· τὰ δὲ ῥήματά μου πλανᾶται καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ καιροῦ. ἔα δέ, ὅτι ἐπ' ἐμοὶ μεγαλύνεσθε, ἐνάλλεσθε δέ μοι ὀνείδη. δῶμεν, φησίν, ὅτι κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἐγὼ πλανῶμαι, καὶ πλάνον τι πνεῦμα οἰκοῦν ἐν ἐμοὶ παρασκευάζει, μὴ κατὰ τὸ δέον φθέγγεσθαι μηδὲ κατὰ καιρὸν τοὺς λόγους προφέρειν· ἀλλὰ ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἔδει οὕτως κατεπαίρεσθαί μου καὶ μεγάλους ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιδεικνύναι καὶ δικαίους κατὰ τοῦ δυστυχοῦντος καὶ ἐνάλλεσθαί μοι καὶ ἐπιπηδᾶν καὶ καταπατεῖν ταῖς ὕβρεσιν. 165 19, 6 γνῶτε οὖν, ὅτι κύριός ἐστιν ὁ ταράξας, ὀχύρωμα δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐπ' ἐμὲ ὕψωσεν. ὁ ταράξας ἀντὶ τοῦ· ὁ ἐν τοσαύτῃ συγχύσει τὰ κατ' ἐμὲ καταστήσας καὶ ὥσπερ ὀχυρώματι καὶ τείχει τινὶ πανταχόθεν με περικλείσας ταῖς συμφοραῖς. ἢ καὶ οὕτως· ὥσπερ τι διατείχισμα μεταξὺ ἐμοῦ τε καὶ ἑαυτοῦ ὕψωσεν, ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι· ἀπέστησεν ἀπ' ἐμοῦ τὴν οἰκείαν βοήθειαν. 19, 7 ἰδοὺ γελῶ ὀνείδει καὶ οὐ λαλήσω, κεκράξομαι καὶ οὐδαμοῦ κρίμα. βέλτιον δέ, οἶμαι, ἐστὶ τὸ μόνον γελᾶν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὑμετέροις ὀνειδισμοῖς καὶ μὴ ἀποκρίνεσθαι. τί γὰρ καὶ κράξω μήπω τῆς ἀποφάσεως δεικνύσηςκρίμα γὰρ τὴν ἀπόφασιν λέγει, πότερον ἐγὼ τἀληθῆ λέγω ἢ ὑμεῖς οἱ μάτην μου καταψευδόμενοι; 19, 811 κύκλῳ περιῳκοδόμημαι, καὶ οὐ μὴ διαβῶ. ἐπὶ πρόσωπόν μου σκότος ἔθετο. τὴν δὲ δόξαν μου ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ἐξέδυσεν, ἀφεῖλεν δὲ στέφανον ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς μου. διέσπασε δέ με κύκλῳ καὶ ᾠχόμην, ἐξέκοψε δὲ ὥσπερ δένδρον τὴν ἐλπίδα μου. δεινῶς δέ μοι ὀργῇ ἐχρήσατο, ἡγήσατο δέ με ὥσπερ ἐχθρόν. ἀδιεξίτητά μοι, φησίν, τὰ κακά· καὶ ὥσπερ οἱ κυκλοτερῶς ὑπὸ τεῖχος ἀπειλημμένοι ἢ ἀορασίᾳ τὰς ὄψεις ἐμποδιζόμενοι περαιτέρω προελθεῖν οὐ δύνανται, οὕτως ἀμηχανῶ τῶν συμφορῶν ἔξω γενέσθαι. στέφανον δὲ ἀφῃρῆσθαι λέγει, ἢ ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς ἐτύγχανεν, ἢ ὅτι .... καὶ τὴν πᾶσαν εὐημερίαν μεληδόν, φησίν, διέ